Track-fastening for rail-joints.



B. WOLHAUPTER. TRACK FASTENING FOR RAIL JOINTS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.11,1912.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

' WITNESSES TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN WOLHAUPTER, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL JOINT COMPANY, OF NEXV YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TRACK-FASTENING FOR RAIL-JOINTS.

Application filed April 11, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN WoL- IIATTPTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Rochelle, in the county of W'estchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track-Fastenings for Rail-Joints,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the subject of railway track fastenings, and has particularly in view a means for increasing the efiiciency of the screw spike or lag screw as a track fastening, especially in its use for securing rail joints to the ties.

The practical utility and importance of this invention is made evident by a comparison thereof with the prevailing practice in fastening rail joints to the ties. According to such prevailing practice the fastenings or spikes, both of the cut spike and screw spike types, are placed in a substantially vertical position adjacent to the flange of the joint bar, with the bottom head of the spike bearing on top of the flange of the joint bar and one side of the shank of the spike bearing against the joint flange. Under this condition, when the joint bolts are tightened and the joint bars drawn closer together, to take up the wear between the bars and the rails, the joint bars are moved inwardly toward the rail and away from the fastening spikes with the result that the latter are left in their original, but now nonholding positions. Hence either the joint must be left without any lateral support, or the spikes must be drawn, the spike holes plugged and the spikes redriven in a new location adjacent to the side edge of the joint in order that they may give the joint a lateral support. All of these operations leave the condition of the tie much weakened, and the lateral resistance of the tie to the spike much decreased. Furthermore, such operations are very expensive, especially where screw spikes are employed. It is by reason of the joint bars being drawn closer together and away from the vertical fastening spikes that joints, after being in track for a short time, become moved out of line by the car wheels. This produces badly alined, unstable, and weakened tracks.

In the prevailing practice, as explained above, when the joint and rails are first applied, the joint bars are fastened to the ties by the spikes (either cut or screw), placed Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

Serial No. 690,085.

in a vertical position. Under these conditions, when the rail heads become worn by the abrasion of the wheel flanges against the rail, especially on curves, the gage becomes widened and dangerous for traflic and must therefore be readjusted. It is then necessary to withdraw the spikes from the ties, plug the spike holes, and redrive the spikes in a new location and adjacent to the joint flange in order to give support to the same. This operation is very expensive for the same reasons as given before, viz: the ties are weakened and partly destroyed, much labor and time must be expended and the track is left in a less secure condition than when the spikes Were originally driven.

To further explain the conditions of the prevailing practice, the actions and forces which the spike must resist are as follows:

First, the upward vertical force applied against the under portion of the spike head tending to withdraw the spike from the tie in a vertical direction. This force is produced by the upward movement of the joint flange caused by the wave motion of the rail under trailic.

Second, the lateral or horizontal force, applied against the side of the spike. This force is produced by the lateral or outward movement of the joint under the action of the wheel flange, caused by the lateral sway of the train on straight track, and the centrifugal force produced at curves.

The common practice, for many years on the railroads, and the present prevailing practice, is to use a cut spike with a pointed end which is driven vertically into the tie by a sledge. The resistance of this sp'ke to the upward vertical movement of the joint, under the wave motion, is merely a frictional resistance of the sides of the spike to being withdrawn from the wood; while the resistance of the spike to the lateral movement of the joint, produced by the sway of the train and centrifugal force, is merely the resistance to crushing of the wood against one side of the spike. t is found in practice that these resistances are relatively small when compared with the heavy traffic conditions of the railroads today, consequently a more effective fastening is being adopted, viz: a round spike with a raised screw thread, said spike being turned or revolved into the tie, the thread giving a positive biting or looking action in the wood of the tie which produces a much greater resisting force to thewithdrawal of said screw spike. These screw spikes are being placed in the tie in a vertical position, as was the old cut spike described above, and these vertical screw spikes receive the upward vertical force, produced by the wave motion of the track, under their heads, and very effectively resist this upward vertical movement by the positive biting action of their threads. The lateral movement however, produced by the sway and centrifugal force of the train,is still opposed by the resistance to crushing of the wood of the tie against one side of the spike, which, being round, forms a wedge tending to separate or open the liters of the wood, and thus produces but little resistance to the lateral movement of the joint, the positive biting or locking action of its threads not being utilized. It is for the purpose of correcting these conditions, besides attaining certain novel and practical results through the use of the screw spike, that the present invention has been made.

Accordingly, a principal object of this invention is to provide a novel arrangement of screw spike in combination with the joint bar of a rail joint whereby any slight or material adjustment of the joint bars through tightening of the joint bolts can be taken up by a revolving movement of the screw-spike in the tie, and also where the rail and joint must be adjusted to rectify the gage of the track after excessive wear of the rail head. In other words, it is proposed and is one of the most important features of the present invention to provide a screwspike mounting whereby the adjustment of the joint bars both vertically and horizontally can be easily and quickly taken up by a simple turning movement of the screwspikes, while at the same time it is preferably intended that the screw-spike be so arranged that the lateral and upward vertical thrusts of the joint bar are resisted by a direct pull of the spike in the wood.

Furthermore, another object of the invention is to provide a track fastening wherein the screw-spike is so arranged as to give an equal amount of lateral and vertical adjustment, through a simple turning movement of the screw-spikes.

WVith these and many other objects, which will more readily appear as the details of the invention are fully understood, the in vention consists in thenovel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

Though susceptible of embodiment in a variety of forms and adaptable to various kinds of rail joints having joint bars of different design, a few practical embodiments of the invention are shown, for illustrative purposes, in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a rail joint, illustrating, by slight exaggeration, the lateral take up of the joint bars for wear, and showing by comparison the use of the ordinary cut-spike occupving a substantially vertical position, and the use of a screw-spike or a lag-screw set at an angle to the vertical plane of the longitudinal center of the rail to provide for carrying out the functions of this invention. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of a rail joint of the Weber type showing the application of the present invention to a rail joint of that kind. Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the application of the invention to a rail joint of the continuous type.

Like references designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The fundamental feature of the invention resides in a joint bar provided with a hearing face and a screw-spike having a symmetrical head whose under side contacts with and bears upon the said bearing face of the joint bar, and so combined as to provide a construction wherein the joint bar maintains a bearing for the symmetrical head of the screw-spike under all adjustments of the joint or track bolts in taking up wear in the joint. The best results may be attained by placing the screw-spike at an angle of substantially forty-five degrees to the perpendicular, or in other words to the vertical plane of the longitudinal center of the joint. This is illustrated, by comparison, in diagrammatic Fig. 1 of the drawings. In this figure of the drawings, there is shown a rail joint including the rail 1, the opposite joint bars 2 and 3, and a joint or track bolt 4 which connects the opposite joint bars and is adjustable for taking up wear by the inward adjustment of said joint bars. This is indicated by the dotted and full line positions illustrated in the said figure. The joint bar 2, at one side of the diagram, is illustrated as being provided with a lower flange 5, overlying the rail flange, and havingan outstanding flange extension 6 provided upon its outer face with an abrupt inclined spike-head bearing face 7 lying in a plane at right angles to the longitudinal plane of a screw-spike 8. This screw-spike extends through a spike hole 9 in the flange-extension 6 and engages in the tie T. At its outer end, the said screwspike is provided with a bearing head 10 whose flat under face flatly and uniformly bears upon the bearing face 7. As stated, the screw-spike is preferably disposed at an angle of substantially forty-five degrees to the perpendicular.

The joint bar 3, shown at the opposite side of the said diagram, is illustrated as being of the conventional angle bar type and whose lower flange 11 is provided in its edge with the spike notch 12, through which is driven the fastening spike l3 occupying the ordinary substantially vertical position. The spike 13 is illustrated as being of the ordinary cut-type, and is shown in full lines to exemplify the condition of the same being left standing in its original, but in a non-holding, position when the angle bar 3 is drawn inward for adjustment through the tightening of the joint or track bolts a. The gap marked 03 in the said diagram of Fig. 1 indicates the space that would be left between an angle bar and its holding spike where a material adjustment of the angle bar is made, thus either necessarily leaving the joint without lateral or vertical support or requiring the drawing of the spike, the

plugging of its hole, and the redriving ofthe spike to a fresh holding engagement with the angle bar. As will be apparent from the diagram of Fig. l of the drawings, these conditions are obviated by the arrangement of the screw-spike in the manner described. The dotted and full line positions plainly show the original and final positions of the screw-spike in connection with the inward adjustment of the joint bar 2, and while it is only necessary to slightly turn or revolve the screw-spike to take up or follow the inward movement of the joint bar without disturbing the cooperating relation between the two, a further feature of practical importance arising from this construction, is that of the thrust of the angle bar being resisted by a direct pull of the screw-spike in the wood. This is sharply distinguished from the action where the screw-spike or the cut-spike is arranged substantially vertical, in which case the thrust of the angle bar produces through the spike a. compression on a small surface of the wood of the tie at the back of the spike.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the arrangement of the screw-spike at an angle of substantially forty-five degrees is a feature of material practical importance, not only in connection with the functions already indicated, but also because this particular angle of the screw-spike gives an equal amount of lateral and vertical adjustment, and also provides for an equal amount of lateral and vertical thrust from the angle bar being absorbed by the biting threads of the spike.

In its adaptation to various kinds of joint, the improvement described performs the functions and possesses the advantages above set forth. In Fig. 2 of the drawings, there is shown a Weber type of rail joint including in combination with the rails, an angle bar 14;, the outer channel bar 15, an angle shoe 16, and a wooden or equivalent compressible filler block 17 interposed between the upright member of the shoe and illustrated as being provided at its bottom corner with a toe flange 22 presenting an inclined bearing face 23 engaged by the head 24- of a screw-spike 25 preserving a corresponding arrangement to the opposite screw-spike 22, and having all of the func tions and advantages of the latter. This adjustable feature of the screw-spike 25 is especially valuable for the outside portion of the angle shoe of the l/Veber joint, in view of the fact that the tightening of the track bolts in this joint compresses the wooden filler block and tends to draw the angle shoe inwardly and out of contact with the spike.

Another application of the invention is shown in Fig. 8, illustrating a continuous type of rail joint, the opposite adjustable joint bars 26 of which are connected by the adjustable joint bolts 27, and each of said joint bars including the usual rail supporting base sections 28, but provided in the outstanding extensions 29 of their lower flanges with inclined spike apertures 30, and also provided with the inclined spikehead bearing face 31 engaged by the head 32 of an inclined screw-spike 33 arranged and operated in the manner already fully described.

From the foregoing description it is to be understood that the screw-spikes, set at an angle as described possess the function of constituting the adjusting means, as well as the function of following up an adjustment of the joint bars by the joint bolts without the necessity of drawing and resetting the spikes. Tn further explanation thereof it may be noted at this point that the horizontal adjustment in the joint will be made by the trackmen, and they may make it, first by tightening up the joint bolts and then following it up with the screw spike placed at an angle, or they may make their adjustment first by turning the screw spikes and afterward tightening up the joint bolts, or under some conditions both the joint bolts and the screw-spikes must be nianipulated to effect the necessary readjustment and setting of the joint bars to take up wear.

Various other modifications and adaptations of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, thus the invention can be applied to ordinary angle bars or other types of rail joints or to spikes having heads of different shapes and it will also be understood that various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of the construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit,

or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I claim:

1. A track fastening comprising in combination, a tie, a rail joint including the rails, and a joint bar having an upright member and a lower member provided with a free edge portion and with an inclined bearing face, and an inclined screw spike having a head maintaining an engagement with said face under all adjustments of the bar on the tie.

2. A track fastening comprising in combination, the tie, a rail joint including the rails and a joint bar having an upright member and a lower member provided with a free edge portion and an abrupt inclined bearing face, and a screw spike set at an angle of substantially forty five degrees to the Trail base and having a head engaging said bearing face to adjust the bar on the tie.

3. A track fastening comprising, in combination the tie, a rail joint including the rails, an angle shoe having a free edge portion and an abrupt inclined bearing face, and a compressible filler, and a screw spike disposed at an angle and engaging the tie, said spike being provided with a head having an adjusting engagement with said face.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN WOLHAUPTER.

Witnesses "PAUL CosTnR, Jr., K. MCNALLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, 1). C. 

